eNEWSLETTER

Welcome to the Hills & District Chamber of Commerce - a friendly and supportive business group bridging the Ferny Hills, Arana Hills, Ferny Grove, Keperra, Mitchelton and surrounding districts. Established in1992, our Chamber is not-for-profit and is affiliated with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Queensland.
If you are involved in a business or community group and live or work in the Hills Districts, why not register for the next meeting - new members and visitors are always welcome.

Coffee Meet Ups - To be? Or not to be?

OK, I hear you! You grab a card from the bucket at breakfast. “Ho hum…shall I call them? I don’t reckon I would have anything in common, and I don’t get how they can help my business…”

Do these thoughts run through your head?

You file the card and forget to make a date.

Here’s a challenge for you. Let’s throw into the mix that one of the benefits of the Chamber is the access to business relationships that you wouldn’t normally meet in your day-today; the members are your network to be able to do business locally, furthermore members are a conduit for you to their contact spheres.

Think of it this way. Imagine you have a Sales Team (i.e. other chamber members) working for you that you don’t pay, they know you and your business well enough to refer you to another contact outside the Chamber – or that other contact has a contact where they exclaim – You and your business might be perfect for what we’re looking for!

Had the AH HA moment yet?
It’s a priceless way to do business by referral plus you get the benefit of creating relationships within the Chamber that you haven’t already.

Read the full version of Having a Fantastic Coffee Meet-up including some etiquette tips.

2018 Big Breakfast Reminders

There are so many ways that you can help raise funds for our community organisations in need. From a small investment by donating a raffle prize, to a grander investment like being a paid sponsor, join us in showing your community that you and your business care.

The Big Breakfast is our pinnacle event of the year and is an event not to be missed. Help us launch the 2018 Big Breakfast and celebrate the community organisations in our area at next month’s chamber Community Breakfast meeting with Cnr Andrew Wines on 24 July.

We have an amazing speaker lined up: Penelope Twemlow is a multi-degree qualified professional with a Naval background and more than 16 years’ experience in strategic and operational management, project and risk management, governance and compliance. She also comes equipped with a wicked sense of humour, a big heart and she knows how to reverse park a warship.

Get your Tickets to the 2018 Big Breakfast on 12 September 2018here. Tell your friends and colleagues that we are coming together to raise funds for great causes and business networking and invite them along.

We have some fabulous sponsors this year supporting our fundraising efforts and still have some Sponsorship Opportunities to showcase your business that include annual membership, breakfast tickets and photo opportunities. There is a sponsorship option to suit every budget - click here to download your prospectus.

Speaking of showcasing, will you have a Trade Table at our Business Showcase? Located on the mezzanine level, guests will wander through the stalls before taking their seat for breakfast. Don’t miss out on a great low cost opportunity to support our fundraising and share your story.

Remember that on the day up to 300 guests will take away our promotional items in a Show Bag of goodies. Reach out to the members in the chamber who can make excellent promotional products for you or join together with a group of like-minded businesses to make a promotional item that guests would love to keep/eat or use. Be creative!

If you have and queries at all, please contact Trent Cornford or Leah Hudson. See your there!

Big Breakfast Committee

Are you a Sole Trader? Get noticed at the Big Breakfast: book your Trade Display TableImage Credit: Vicki Yen

President

Ron Crump

Hello Everyone

At our recent Monthly Executive Meeting, Peter Kenyon (Chair) questioned the effectiveness of the way in which we go about supporting our Commerce in Schools initiative. Over the years we have donated to our local High School Awards evenings and in addition we have sponsored a number of individual students who have applied for our support.

In keeping with our reason for existence and in looking forward it was agreed that our involvement with the young people in our community might be stronger and more effective.

On the back of great work done by earlier Commerce in Schools Committees we now have much closer working relationships and lines of communication with those excellent teachers involved in the areas of business education. These people are doing an excellent job with, like so many, limited resources.

Our time, in sharing our hard earned experience, supporting school-based initiatives and financial support are the obvious contributions that we can make and have been making. The objective is to ultimately build stronger commercial acumen at a younger age and as such lay the foundation for a vibrant business community well in to the future.

My personal picture of the future is one which includes a strong and energetic Junior Chamber of Commerce. That same picture includes support for the young entrepreneurs in our Chamber and in the wider community.

Already we are seeing many of the younger members of our Chamber stepping into challenging roles and doing good work.

To those of you already involved in this area in the past and present, thank you. To those of you who have constructive and innovative thoughts around how we might be more effective in the future please share them with anyone of the Executive.

Peter Kenyon (Chair of the Commerce in Schools) and Jessica Ricketts (Vice President) whose innovative thinking around the above discussion are two people that I must acknowledge as being the inspiration behind this contribution to our news letter.

One of the challenges for people in leadership roles such as mine is to have clarity of purpose and clarity of direction into the future; I thank them.

See you at the next Breakfast Meeting but more importantly go on line now and support the Big Breakfast Committee by purchasing your tickets to this great event. Ron

Vice President

Jane Kirk

The Membership Committee has a renewed vim – and a big welcome to Sam Hanrahan who has joined us, our Committee is slowly growing with enthusiastic members. As the Chamber grows so do the logistics and operational side that continue to service you, the member, in the best way we can.

Committees serve as a key mechanism to keep the Chamber functioning well.

And keep in mind that a great member experience can include what you get from attending other Chamber events and working on Committees; the variety is appealing to members and you get an opportunity to further develop your relationships and leadership experience.

With a focus this coming year on member experience we are in the early stages of developing a Welcome and Induction Pack, a valuable resource for new members. The rollout is intended to cover existing members with a Member version along with a stock of New Member Welcome & Induction Packs for future ones. With our sights set to deliver by December this is a fantastic opportunity to jump on board for some Committee experience with a project timeframe.

Understanding that some members can only commit to discrete periods of involvement (think Big Breakfast, Meet the Members) our Committee would love to hear from you; particularly those who have experience in certain aspects. For example: writing, HR, other club membership projects, printing; and don’t mind collating folders, adapting content for website use, and have a great sense of fun, please approach any of us on the Membership Committee. We need two or three volunteers, some of which might want to join us post-Big Breakfast.
Go well! Jane

Vice President

Jessica Ricketts

Hello! My name is Jessica and I am one of three new Vice Presidents for the Hills Chamber. I am both excited and petrified to join the executive committee :-) My fear of the unknown was exactly why I accepted this position because when I do things that make me afraid...amazing things happen! Not only for my business but for my own personal growth and relationships around me.

So I challenge you all to have a think about what scares you and what are you going to do about it?!

Leah Hudson and Trent Cornford reported on the progress of the Big Breakfast Committee

Vicki Yen promoted the PR Committee & briefly on the Meet the Candidates

Molly Brumm from Women in Business Committee was away in Fiji

Jane Kirk promoted the Membership Committee and noted the current project was the new member induction pack and asked for volunteers for the short term project

Sheldon Morey from the Business Development Committee was not in attendance

Updates to the Executive Team where announced:

Janie Grant has stepped down as Vice President and Jessica Ricketts has taken up the role.

Our Speaker, Peter Honeycombe from Honeycombes Property Group gave us an update on plans and proposed visuals for the major Ferny Grove Transit Development. He also shared some of his history and the story of Honeycombes Property Group.

Our Table Topic was focussed on the impacts of the TOD and if there were any further questions the community may have for the developers. Visitors were invited to introduce themselves.

Note:
If you are bringing guests please advise their details so that we can welcome them appropriately. Please email Leonard Whittaker at secretary@hillschamber.org.au.

If you would like to view the minutes for any of our past meetings or Chamber other records contact Leonard Whittaker at secretary@hillschamber.org.au. Leonard

Treasurer

Stuart Jaeschke

Financial report as at 30 June 2018. Bank balance at 30 June was $24,842.28. Please find below the profit and loss report for June and Year To Date.

Stuart

Advocacy Committee

Member | Nicky Roberts

WHAT DOES 1 JULY 2018 MEAN FOR QUEENSLAND BUSINESSES?
Some wins, some losses, here are a few of the changes that came into affect on 1 July:

Payroll tax rebates for businesses employing apprentices and trainees to be extended and maintained at 50% for a year

Queensland single-use plastic bag ban came into effect

Electricity bills decreased by 3.4% for a typical customer on the main small business tariff (tariff20)

Motor vehicle registration increases by 3.5%

Brisbane council rates increased by 2.5%; Moreton Bay by 2.9%

Businesses growing, producing, manufacturing, distributing, importing or selling food in retail stores in Australia will need to comply with the new Country of Origin Labelling laws.

PR Committee

Chairperson | Vicki Yen

Welcome Jessica Ricketts as our Executive Liaison for the PR Committee. Jess joined this committee when she originally became a Chamber member, and now she also helps the flow of communication between the Executive, and our PR Committee.

Did you know every committee in the Chamber has an Exec Liaison person?
Part of the Executive groups’ focus is to look at many big picture themes like liaison with the many levels of government, and new directions for the Chamber. While for each individual committee – it’s a specialised, more niche field of interest they have chosen to explore - and actively develop activities relevant to members.

The PR Committee is interested in assisting the Executive, and members, as a resource to keep information flowing.

Have you got a comment? An idea? We’d love to hear from you. (And recruit you…)
There’s lots of things individual members are doing to maximise networking, business building and community building opportunities for each business.

Here’s one networking tip:

When you pickup a business card at a monthly breakfast, have your coffee catchup straight away at the coffee shop downstairs at the Club. Do it now is always more time efficient.

And you just never know how you may be able to value-add to each others’ business. Vicki

Women in Business Committee

Chairperson | Molly Brumm

Welcome to a restructured WIB. Thanks Janie Grant for chairing with your personal style and warmth. Welcome to Diane Frey our newest committee member and I'm now Chair!

Last year WIB launched a Workshop Series. The aim is to offer education and upskilling of both presenter (a chamber member) and participants.

I am offering the next workshop: Back to Business with Your Base Chakra on Tuesday 17 July, 7.00 - 8.30 pm.

We had a successful International Women’s Day showcasing three amazing women and raising money for two charities.

Bi-monthly, we have lunch offering an opportunity to network and develop skills. In June, we interviewed a member and presented their business. Public speaking is challenging and in a supportive environment we discovered more about each other and laughed. August will be a lunch at the Flying Nun.

So come along, network with other Chamber members, learn something new at a workshop increasing skills and extending yourself with new experiences. Book today on our Chamber website! Molly